Sunday, Feb. 4, 2018 (full size gallery)
A cold rain along with dampness as well as ice reported in accompanying communities helped to keep attendance down on Epiphany 4 to 26 people.
It was the Souperbowl Sunday. We had the bowl outside to collect donations for the Village Harvest as well as in the offertory. Our costs are now over $200 a month for food for this well deserving ministry.
We also celebrated Elizabeth Heimbach’s birthday. We had the first Potluck coffee hour which had Chinese food, chicken, two types of greens, a bean casserole and various type of fruit for dessert.
The focus on the Sunday was partially on healing with Peter’s mother-in-law in the Gospel. We had a laying on of hands for members of our congregation. We used "The Litany of Healing from the Book of Occasional Services" as part of this practice.
The sermon was about three action verbs- To trust, to pray, and to go. "Consider these verbs in the context of the nature of God. Throughout scripture, God is strong, powerful and mighty, the source of cosmic energy that flows through the universe and suffuses this earth with life."
Trust – "Telling Jesus that the mother-in-law is sick is an act of trust on the part of the disciples, because they trust Jesus to take care of her.And then we see this same trust on an even wider level when people from the whole city come to Jesus bringing even more sick and demon possessed people to him, trusting that Jesus will help them
"The second action word, then, is “to pray.” Jesus was intentional about putting himself in the presence of God. Mark doesn’t explain how Jesus prayed, or what he prayed about
"The last verb is “to go.” Jesus trusts the disciples to follow him, even though this following is going to mean leaving their familiar lives behind. And the disciples do follow him. Even today, God calls us to go and follow Jesus. And I think it’s safe to say that God does not ever lay out the whole map and explain the journey in detail. We just have to trust that God has our healing, health and salvation in mind and follow.
Today’s readings characterize committed Christian ministry. In awe-filled tones, the prophet Isaiah describes God’s majesty, power and compassion. In his letter to the Corinthians, Paul explains how he willingly lays down his privileges as a Christian to reach people with God’s message of good news. In the gospel, Jesus’ ministry revolves around healing and preaching, solitude and prayer.
Isaiah’s passage is part of Isaiah’s invitation to the almost-to-be-released exiled community to reflect on the God they believe in. During their exile, their fear intensified because they thought God had abandoned them. Was God powerful enough to save them again?
Isaiah comforts them with this mocking contrast between the power of God and the weakness of false gods. The outstanding characteristic of a god is power, and their God—in case they don’t remember—is the ruler over all creation and all earthly rulers.
In chapter 9, Paul in the Epistle reading for today defends his status as an apostle. His authority had apparently been questioned because he had waived two apostolic rights: being married and receiving support for preaching.
Opponents may have used Paul’s restraint as evidence of his unworthiness. Paul retorts that he did not choose preaching as a career for the purpose of earning a living. Instead, like the prophets, he received a commission from God and so has no choice but to preach.The absolute claim of the gospel makes relative all cultural, ethnic, national or legal values. The freedom that his decision gives him puts him in a position of servitude under “Christ’s law”—the obligation of love. Paul’s flexibility is neither cowardice nor compromise; rather, his freedom allows him to speak to and from the experience of others. Paul’s freedom is for service, and his ministry is its own reward.
The Gospel from a Mark is a day in the life of Jesus in Mark’s terse styl which indicates three roles, healer and sustainer for one (Peter’s mother-in-law), freeing a community from demons, and preacher, proclaiming the good news
Then at sundown, when the sabbath was over, people are brought to Jesus for healing and the casting out of spirits. Silencing the spirits (v. 34) was apparently part of the common technique of exorcism. But Mark implies that Jesus does not wish his identity made known by evil spirits who have no credibility as witnesses.
The following morning Jesus withdraws from Capernaum and from his disciples. He seeks communion with God and perhaps also wishes to avoid the superficial popularity indicated by the report that “everyone is searching for you” (v. 37). Jesus responds by going to the next towns, for that is why he came from Capernaum. Jesus acts as the envoy of God. His mission of “preaching” includes the whole of his ministry: teaching, healing, casting out spirits and finally his death and resurrection
Whew! What a day! In a sense, it is encouraging to note how much Jesus’ day resembled one of our busiest. He was certainly not removed from the hurly burly of messy human life. If anything, even more people searched him out. But if we look again at Mark’s account, we discover Jesus’ secret. How did he manage it all? One sentence is the key: “In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed” (Mark 1:35).